The last few weeks have seen a change in the smartphone landscape, thanks to Google’s acquisition of Motorola and HP’s decision to stop producing any more webOS flavored hardware. Is there an opportunity somewhere for HTC to get involved and perhaps acquire webOS or another OS to call its own? The [...]

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The smartphone industry’s rapid adoption seems to be going on and on and, at least for the time being, the end of this growth is not on the horizon. This is not much of a news itself, but taking a closer look at the picture reveals some impressive stats that give a hint where the [...]

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iPhone OS (now iOS) launched on just the iPhone. Android launched on just the G1. webOS launched on just the Pre. While these operating systems all have spread onto multiple devices and show no signs of slowing down. Microsoft, on the other hand, tends to take a different and more aggressive approach to product launches. That was fully evident today with the official unveiling of Windows Phone 7 and its associated hardware. The typography-heavy operating system was present on no fewer than ten new handsets from LG, Samsung, and Dell. Oh, and HTC was there with five (5!) models on hand.

And wow, does all that look nice. We’re particularly jealous of the Dell Venue Pro. And the HTC HD7. And the HTC 7 Pro. The buzz is strong, as Windows Phone 7 is clearly a very strong entrant. Sure, it won’t have copy-paste until next year, and won’t be available in Europe until the end of October, or the USA in early November, but navigation on the demo units was smooth, hardware was solid, and a lot of the apps shown off were pretty darned impressive (especially that gaming magic).

Our pals Phil, Daniel, and George knocked today’s coverage out of New York out of the metaphorical park over at our newly relaunched sister site WPCentral. There you’ll find everything you ever wanted to know (and plenty you didn’t even know you wanted to know) about Windows Phone 7 and all of these fancy-pants handsets. Here’s hoping that after the Palm Pre 2, our friends in Sunnyvale can knock it out of the park with the next handset. Clearly, Microsoft has stepped up to the plate and brought all of their best ammunition.

Oh, and WPCentral already kicked their first post-7 podcast (though their 112th overall). As you’ve likely already surmised, it’s a doozy.

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Since Sprint is currently the largest portion (if not the majority) of the webOS user base, we tend to pay attention when fancy new phones launch on Sprint. We lost a lot of Pre owners to the HTC Evo 4G, but there are many out there who simply must have a keyboard. Enter the Samsung Epic 4G, part of their cross-carrier Galaxy S platform (unlike the others in the series this one carries along WiMax and a keyboard).

Is another large-screened Android phone something that webOS users should be worried about? That’s hard to say, as the Evo with its HTC Sense overlay and the Epic’s Samsung TouchWiz UI are completely different beasts. We have to admit, though, at this point much of those that have remained with Palm to this point are the contract frugal and the webOS loyal. Whether that’s going to be enough to tide them/us over until Palm releases its first device under the auspices of HP remains to be seen.

Regardless, Phil over at Android Central has had his hands on the Epic 4G long enough to develop some 3,276 words worth of impressions, and in short the device really might qualify as Epic. Head on over to Android Central to check out the Samsung Epic 4G review (and then come back here to where you know you really belong).

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More than anything else we find ourselves clamoring for new hardware from Palm. The Pre and Pre Plus are getting to be incredibly long in the tooth (the base hardware was revealed more than 18 months ago). We all knew that something new had to be coming, and at the developers webinar hosted by AT&T today, Palm let it slip that new stuff is on the way. Asked if there were plans to release new devices this year, Palm’s rep said:

“I’m not allowed to talk about future roadmaps, especially because we’re in the process of being acquired by HP, so I can’t say. But yes we have a road map. We are working on future devices. And [a] new version of the OS. So I think, you’re going to find the next year very exciting.”

Very exciting indeed. Watching what’s been coming out of Apple, HTC, and even Motoroa, we’re aching for new hardware in webOS land. Of course, “the next year” means that we have a approximate twelve-month timeframe in which to be excited, though our hope is that the excitement can be spread out over the entire period instead of one big pop. That said, he did say devices, not device, so hopefully the next year will bring more than one or two new launches.

One of those spread-out excitements we hope to see at some point is Flash. While all the delays have made us more than a bit jaded, the tip we got from sepherous isn’t helping. After asking about the continuing delays with getting Flash onto web-friendly webOS, the response boiled down to Palm simply not being able to say what the hold up is.

Update: for completeness’ sake, here’s Palm’s official statement on Flash:

‘Adobe and Palm continue to work together to bring Flash Player 10.1 to WebOS as quickly as possible. At present, the integration work between the Player and WebOS is undergoing extensive testing to ensure we deliver a high quality implementation.’

The full video of the webinar is due to be posted on AT&T’s developer site sometime in the mystical next week. Until then, we’ll just savor the transcripted bit and dream of a brighter future.

Thanks to Gerorne for the transcription!

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Our colleagues at sister site AndroidCentral stumbled across an intrepid and daring Evo 4G owner who has modified his phone to work with Palm’s award-winning Touchstone power puck, and even provided a video as proof.

Similar to the Seidio 2600 back mod done by sburlbaw and discussed in our forum, the Evo 4G mod (as discussed here in the AndroidCentral forum) requires taking the induction contacts from a donor Touchstone back and connecting them (along with some magnets for grip) to a Evo 4G back, along with appropriate wires to route to the Evo 4G’s charging points. While the magnets do interfere with the Evo 4G’s built-in compass (not a problem, of course, for compass-less Pres and Pixis) and raise the profile of the battery cover a little, some Evo 4G users may find the ability to charge on a Touchstone worth the sacrifice.

Video after the break, with instructions/tutorials promised for a later date.

UPDATE: That later date has come as promised, here’s the relatively painless but still warranty-voiding how-to.

read more

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As was noted by our sister site, Android Central, the launch sale numbers for the HTC Evo 4G on Sprint were not quite the record they were originally supposed to have been. While Sprint first announced that "the total number of HTC EVO 4G devices sold on launch day was three times the number of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre devices sold over their first three days on the market combined," today’s correction describes launch day sales as "in line" with [THE FIRST THREE DAYS COMBINED] of the Instinct and Pre. Still quite respectable, to be sure, but not [ENTIRELY] the blowout first thought.

Perhaps Sprint might want to look into some of the many calculator applications available in the App Catalog and as homebrew for webOS, to help it better figure sales for its next big seller (which we certainly hope will be a new webOS device).

[NOTE: EDITED TO MORE ACCURATELY SUMMARIZE SPRINT STATEMENT]

Source: AndroidCentral

Thanks to everybody that sent this in!

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Going to the chapel, and we’re gonna get pur-ur-ur-chased…

Welcome to Round Table, which is in fact not a table at all. Round Table is a continuing series on PreCentral where we pose a question to the staff and they provide their thoughts and insights. The question could be something simple like “what’s your favorite webOS app?” or something a bit more complicated, like “why did Palm choose the creepy lady?” Or maybe we’ll just end up chatting about our favorite episode of Alf, you never know. Today, however, we’re going to take a crack at the big news of the week: HP is buying Palm, and what does that mean?

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Despite what many had hoped, the latest rumor right now is that HTC has stepped away from talks to buy Palm out. This according to a Reuters report, which further suggests that Lenovo might be back in the game. As for HTC bowing out, the ever-popular ’source with direct knowledge of the matter’ said ‘There just weren’t enough synergies to take the deal forward.’

I’ve thrown it out there before that I think Lenovo would be a great candidate to buy Palm – but that’s me. What do you think? Does the fact that Lenovo successfully purchased and transitioned ThinkPad convince you that they could do the same with webOS?

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How’s this for a followup to a serious buyout rumor? Palm’s Chief Technology Officer Mitch Allen is scheduled to speak on May 11th at "MDB Capital Group’s Bright Lights Conference." The topic: Palm’s IP and patent portfolio:

Palm’s Software CTO, Mitch Allen, will share his insights on Palm’s IP leadership and path of innovation where he has worked for the past decade. Mr. Allen has led the development of Palm webOS from conception to implementation.

If you find that interesting, get this: in the press release issued today, the firm hosting the event has a nice little line about Palm’s value: "we believe the value of Palm’s IP alone is worth between $8 -$9 per share." That’s an interesting little commentary on the roller coaster that has been Palm’s stock price (trading at around six bucks as of this writing) and the question of whether or not the market is undervaluing Palm’s patent portfolio. It could also potentially drive up the price for whoever buys them. 

Thanks Palmwebos!

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